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perichoresis

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Everything posted by perichoresis

  1. Thank you. Recently found this: " O Earth, weigh lightly upon me, I trod so lightly upon thee" Greek Epitaph " My dancers fall that they might rise" Martha Graham.
  2. All dances are too long. - Doris Humphrey I demand of the dance that it reveal the divine in man. - Doris Humphrey
  3. It was said that Tudor " could choreograph to the very eyelash.
  4. Such a rich, evocative, description of the Russian émigré teachers, their quirks, temperaments, nature of their classes, seen through such a personal lens. What an experience and heritage you have Richard!
  5. I have at times thought about the eras of history, in which cultures and artistic forms have flourished then declined. For instance Renaissance Italy was a well spring of great artistic achievement, its extraordinary achievements in architecture, sculpture and painting. Out of Europe came the great musical masterworks and more relevantly on this forum, the art which we love...the ballet. To me it seems ,considering the rise and fall of such things mentioned above that leads me to wonder if and when the art of classical dance may fall away. This consideration seems pessimistic but I raise it just as a point of enquiry. In regard to musical compositions I think truly enduring and great compositions ceased around about half. way through the last century.Huge turning points in history ( ie the industrial revolution) wrought vast changes in society, modes of living etc. Now we are in a new equally profound time of change ( that is the era of the electronic and internet technologies) One thinks of the context in which such an immortal work...Bach's Mass in B minor was created, supremely talented composers, employment by the church, a time where people had time and space to listen, ..and I mean really listen.I hope with all my being that the glorious art of classical dance will go ion and on. One thing I am sure of, people will always dance in one form or another, for movement and time and space are our realities.
  6. What is it with Kylian, Mozart, and sword-play? In three ballets Birthday, Six Dances, and Petite Mort, all to the music of Mozart, the great choreographer has to a lesser or greater extent employed the rapier to augment his work.In Petite Mort six rapiers are integral to the work, almost serving as partners in themselves, six men provide astonishing sword-play but in an almost military way, only after this do six ladies join the chaps in Mozart's sublime sensual music.The work is suffused with aggression, sexual tension and energy, but also stillness and vulnerability.A Freudian sub-text no doubt springs to mind ( particularly as the French employ the term Petite Morte "little death" in a sexual context.) But kylian is too nuanced and dimensional to be reduced to such analysis.Six dances ( Mozart's Six German Dances) provides ribald, earthy and surreal fun, with disturbing under-tones , witty , coarse, and fast, The composer himself I'm certain would have loved it, his scatelogical Rabelasian earthy humour ( read his letters!) is wonderfully well represented.The chalk dust on wigs, the bizarre, witty nods to the Baroque and Rococo times...I am wondering, is it only when Kylian uses Mozart's music that the swords come out? Was Kylian ever a fencer?
  7. extraordinary!!! Elgar once said "I have sung the trees' music, or have they sung mine? His nickname for his daughter was "fish-face" Poor girl!
  8. It has been an age since I've contributed, but the thought occurs to me, which ballet/ballets, would you most dearly love to see but as yet have not. There are more than a few on my list but Ashton's "Enigma Variations" is a work I have long desired to see. For a start I adore this composition of Elgar, the portrait of friends within.The great noble "Nimrod" variation has become a signature for state and solemn occasions.England had not had a great composer since Purcell , and when the Enigma Variations ( Elgar's first masterpiece) was heard, England realised that here was a composer of international stature. The Edwardian evocations of courtesy and wonderful eccentricity, portraits in music of Elgar's circle of friends, inspired Ashton to realise this marvellous music in a work so quintessentially "English" I understand that a bicycle has a "role" in this ballet( The composer called his bicycle "Mr Phoebus" ) I think the ballet ends with a telegram given to Elgar , conveying the conductor Hans Richter's agreement to conduct Elgar's first symphony in Ab. At its rehearsal, Richter said to the orchestra "Gentlemen, let us rehearse the greatest symphony of our time, and not only in England" But that is another story... It would be most interesting to see what readers have in mind.
  9. The following dialogue was selected from a book.Here goes.... Frank "Yo! What's shaking? Tony "Not much buddy-boy.repaired another 72 cubic Freez-O-Matic today.ain't they the worst? Frank "Fuggedaboutit.Faulty freon tubes left and right.Gimme that side by side Kenmore any day I always say. Tony "Didja get a look at that prima ballerina tonight? Whoa, what a dancer. Frank "You got that right.Never seen such a line.She musta practised with a tape measure. Tony "Yeah, how about that pas de deux-did you catch that amazing pointe work.Quick but delicate, like a Rapid R-53 staple gun. Frank "And those 32 fouettes in the coda. It was like she was drillin' a hole in the floor at 900 rpm with an 18 volt Black&Decker cordless. Tony "Yeah but what's with her partner? No turnout at all during his variation.Sheesh! Frank "Yeah, what does he think he is, a Ramelson 11/64 straight handle skew chisel? Tony "And he totally messed up his menage.turned it into a diagonL halfway through. He coudda used a plumb bob level.Whadda louse. Frank "Yeah... got something stuck in his dance belt. Tony "See you at Beethoven's 9th tonight? Frank "count on it. Go figure! Ciao Tony
  10. Sorry to misquote your name Sandy.Accuracy is a virtue most particularly in your field.
  11. I appreciate your insightful observations Sandy.You have an observant eye and mind.I am a bit isolated here in New Zealand but worked for two years in Australia, both at the National Ballet Theatre in St Kilda, and also at the Victorian College of the Arts.But it was at Danceworld 301 where I played briefly for Gelsey Kirkland.Back here at the new Zealand School of Dance I saw Concerto Barocco quite a few times.And I agree that Bach and Balanchine are in fact almost certainly in the divine sphere as we speak.I read somewhere that Balanchine somewhere had dancers held vertically upside down doing entrechats.Apparantly this was to indicate an inverted fugual theme.sounds extraordinary but my memory is usually quite impressive.Bach and Balanchine share the architectonic gift, constructing on occasion cathedral- like forms in their work. Being men of faith (Devout Lutheran and Russian Orthodox) and having faith myself I rather think Sandy's celestial hope for them is in fact predicated on reality.But that is entirely another subject.
  12. To answer the questions, I am a pianist.My father had degrees in mathematics and physics and I seem to have inherited his love of both.I recall my father factorising number plates on motor vehicles.Numbers seemed to be his friend.For instance 13 squared = 169. 31 squared =961.The transpositions are nice. Our teacher is a woman of high intelligence and given to somewhat cryptic remarks on occasion. Rarely do her observations border on the mysterious but this remark came so far out of left field it took me a few minutes to fully appreciate its depth.Possibly my imagination was heightened during the time.I was about halfway through the character variation when she uttered this.I thought it was rather elegant that the requested direction she wished her dancers to inscribe was an ellipse around the studio.I thought of the elliptical orbit the sub-atomic particles will soon take around the vast large hadron collider.I think her linking Rutherford with magnets was a highly imaginative remark but I doubt whether she really understood as Sean has pointed out the inconsistency between the two.Quite some years ago I began to explore the feasibilty of writing a paper on the physics of the ballet studio (Newtonian laws) but I didn't get too far.Someone told me that a Polish physicist did this about forty years ago.Perhaps I was interpreting too deeply implied meaning .
  13. Many thanks for a swift and informative reply.I can see why the other brandenburs mentioned didn't last for long.
  14. A funny thing happened today in the studio where I work.Our resident teacher, choreographer and artistic director, the extraordinary Deirdre Tarrant in one sentence managed to compress dance instruction and reference to both the great New Zealand physicist and the vast particle accelerator near Geneva which has heavily featured in international media recently.This utterance I believe is the verbal equivalent of a mathematical equation possessing both economy and elegance. Instructing her dancers in the spatial relationships she wished them to inscribe (during a character dance from Belarus) she said "Remember Rutherford and the magnets!" What a triumph of concatenation.In this briefest of utterance she paid tribute to the great New Zealand physicist who laid the foundations of nuclear science.Not only this but also made reference to the great apparatus in question.I bow the knee to this most exceptional of remarks.I doubt if ever in the history of ballet such a feat has occured.Did the students get it???? I know I did!
  15. As a dance accompanist much of the music of the concert repertoire I listen to is filtered through the realm of choreographic possibilities.As is well known choreographers have and do find a rich source of inspiration in the music of the great cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.Obviously the fact that so much of his music is predicated upon the courtly dances of Europe determines this.In Bach we find a quality of kinetic momentum and rythmic pulse that compels expression in the dance.Also the multi layered polyphonic lines and architectonic mathematical nature of much of his work contributes deeply to this. I am so far unaware of existing choreography to the six Brandenburg concertos but I would be most surprised if it is not extant.I wish to suggest the sixth concerto in Bb major BWV 1051.To my mind it is the obvious and most promising candidate.This is so because of all the Brandenburgs it has the qualities mentioned in the previous paragraph.This concerto is thought to be the earliest written of the set.Its instrumentation indicates this is almost certainly the case (viols) and its concerto grosso form, unlike for instance the 5th concerto which is virtually a keyboard concerto with its impressive and wonderful cadenza in the first movement. If anyone could confirm whether or not the sixth concerto has or has not been so far choreographed i would be most appreciative.Do any musicians, accompanists, repetiteurs or indeed choreographers confirm my instinct?
  16. St Augustine said there were three things he would have loved to have seen above all.These were :the Lord Jesus Christ when He walked this earth, ; the Apostle Paul preaching, and Rome in all its glory.Inspired by this, I turned my attention to dancers.Here is my list; it is necessarily incomplete. The Men: Vaslav Nijinsky, Enrico Cecchetti, Mikhail Fokhine, Robert Helpmann, Erik Bruhn, Nikita Dolgushin,Igor Zelensky, Yuri Solyviev ("Cosmonautic Yuri" on account of his extraordinary elevations and resemblance to Yuri Gargarin) The Women: Olga Spessistseva (an anecdote describes how in class her centre-work was so extraordinary that the dancers behind her were spellbound(and possibly intimidated) and could not dance anymore' so fixated were they upon her.The teacher moved her to the back! Tatiana Riabouschinska, Tamara Toumanova, Antoinette Sibley, Natalia Bessmertnova, Galina Ulanova. Finally though not strictly in the category, the great Alexander Pushkin teaching his Class of Perfection. What dancers would readers of this post choose? Perhaps teachers could comprise a second list.
  17. John Cranko's ballet Eugene Onegin, was a work that captured my heart years ago.I had the good fortune to watch the Royal Ballet perform it at Covent garden in 2004. What a masterly distillation of Pushkin's great verse novel.He captures so well Olga's blitheness, Lensky's ardent earnestness, Onegin's cynical ennui and Tatiana's romantic yearning and awakening.It is interesting that Cranko did not use any of the music from Tchaikovsky's great opera of the same title.Instead orchestrated selections of Tchaikovsky piano pieces are used, and to great effect.I'd urge anyone who loves the ballet to also see the opera,particularly affecting for me was Monsieur Triquet's sung tribute to Tatiana on the occasion of her birthday " My ballet employer-the extraordinary Deirdre Tarrant of New Zealand choreographed the dance sequences of this opera I attended.Pushkin's great narrative arc makes the ballet a compelling work.How well the characters are captured and how well their Russian essence is revealed. The world was cruelly denied when Cranko was tragically taken -all too soon.Who will take up his mantle?
  18. This glorious Balanchine work Chaconne has captured my heart and being.So this evening I wrote this response. Chaconne-(to Suzanne Farell and Peter Martins) Beyond this world, under azure sky, The dancers have attained Paradise. Not for them sweat and aching limbs Or stern balletmasters demanding ever-more: They have escaped earth's orbital pull, They have reached Elysium. Exalted in their airy realm- Beyond cares and trials and woes, Moving their sweet sweet limbs. To dulcet flute and strings They dance their heavenly choreography. To mortal beings weighted With history's freight and mass, Bound by time and Newton's laws, Imagination cannot conceive Their radiance and joy. So we strain to join that place, The starry vault of their abode. Waiting for the snap of gravity And resurrection from our sleep. Perichoresis May 19 2008
  19. Watching the almost unbearably beautiful ballet Chaconne with its wonderful score by Gluck and evocation of the fields of Elysium I was reminded of something Balanchine said. "You know, this world is not the real world..." He implied there was a world beyond "Made of another substance" this was either a Platonic perspective or more likely it came from Balanchine's Orthodox christianity. He famously said "God creates, man assembles".He informed his dancers that he read the bible regularly and slowly "Everything's in there... the prophecies" Being Orthodox (as was his great collaborator Stravinsky, his beloved Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff) he would have believed in the world to come and the resurrection of the dead.He was also a mystic and would sometimes say to his dancers that Mozart or Tchaikovsky had spoken to him and given inspiration if he was stuck temporarily on a work. At the NYCB performance immediately after his death, Lincoln Kirstein addressed the audience and said "I don't need to tell you that Mr B is with Mozart and Tchaikovsky." In an age where in the West where it has become somewhat fashionable to slight Christianty, it is salutary to remember those towering artists whose faith was the wellspring of their work.J.S Bach, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and the before mentioned composers are but a few.Suzanne Farrell professed the Catholic faith. despite its abuses, Christianity has bequeathed to the world a rich treasure of great art.
  20. I wrote this when I first began accompanying ballet classes.Not quite a Haiku but close. At the barre, how the curve Of an arm Echoed a young girl's smile. Everything turned out beautifully. Is anyone aware of poems with ballet as their subject matter?
  21. Recently viewed Jiri Kylian's ballet, Birth-day, on DVD. Was wondering if anyone else has seen it.Kylian has set it to selected music by Mozart and indeed the ballet reflects the operatic, pensive, amusing nature of its score.Some of it was laugh-out-loud material but counterpointed with the strange, the surreal, and the slightly grotesque (Samuel Beckett springs to mind)I can't help but think that Mozart would have approved mightily .His ribald sense of fun would have been well served.It seems to me that Mozart's music more than most eludes easy description,Adjectives such as otherwordly, sublime, joyful and disturbing hardly reach the mark.Why is this so.It is wonderful to view a ballet with such riotous fun.Note the inventive use of fans and mirrors. I could not but help thinking that time's relentless passage, and inevitable mortality frame the Chaplinesque, silent movie feel of some of its episodes.Kylian's musicality is a joy.
  22. What a subject!.I am reminded of the Judgement of Paris.Dosteyevsky said "Beauty will redeem the world" Thomas Aquinas said "Beauty is the spendour of order"It seems ever so slightly unworthy to compile a list out of so many many luminaries but since so many others have , a compelling precendent has been set.I rest my case! Allegra kent Tanaquil leClerq Diana Adams Kyra Nichols Ekaterina Maximova Olga Spessisteva Natalia Bessmertnova Susan Jaffe Amanda Mckerrow Aurelie Dupont Incomplete I know but it is hard to number the radiant stars in the dancing galaxy.All I know is that if a similar judgement were made of me,I would most likely be subterranean.
  23. For the last fifteen years I have had an intense interest and involment in the world of ballet. For the past fourteen years I have worked as a ballet accompanist (pianist) I also took ballet classes for five years so as to better understand the art.I am first and foremost a musician but ballet has enriched my life and has been central to me for a long time. I recall clearly having intense , almost cinematographic dreams about ballet dancers and indeed these recur today.One such vision of the night was an indescribably beautiful piazza in Italy where multi-coloured fountains desribed beautiful arcs and curves and between were dancers in intricate counterpoint.I received the coup de foudre when in my father"s house and chancing on a television documentary of Balanchine and four dancers recalling the great choreographer .This would have been shortly after his death.Images imprinted themselves upon my inner being, subsequently I developed a deep interest and knowledge of this extraordinary man.This in turn led me to a deep engagement with the choreographic process.To me, dance reveals the inherent divine image in humanity and affirms the glory of embodiment.As a pianist I loved the role of being an adjunct (albeit an essential one) in the studio.interacting with teachers was also a joy, some more than others! it is wonderful to have chanced upon this site which serendipitously was made visible to me when researching notable dancers of the NYCB.
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